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George A. Custer

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Autographs Start Price:NA Estimated At:6,000.00 - 8,000.00 USD
George A. Custer

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Auction Date:2014 May 14 @ 18:00 (UTC-05:00 : EST/CDT)
Location:236 Commercial St., Suite 100, Boston, Massachusetts, 02109, United States
ALS - Autograph Letter Signed
ANS - Autograph Note Signed
AQS - Autograph Quotation Signed
AMQS - Autograph Musical Quotation Signed
DS - Document Signed
FDC - First Day Cover
Inscribed - “Personalized”
ISP - Inscribed Signed Photograph
LS - Letter Signed
SP - Signed Photograph
TLS - Typed Letter Signed
Partly-printed DS, signed “G. A. Custer,” one page, 11 x 17, June 1, 1874. Tobacco return document for the Band Company of the 7th US Cavalry. Custer approves the list of 16 enlisted men, non-commissioned staff, and attachers of the company, each of whom has taken possession of a pound of tobacco. Signed near the bottom by Custer as Lieutenant Colonel of the 7th Cavalry, with the bottom portion of the document filled out in a clerk’s hand, reading: “Received, Fort Abraham Lincoln D.T., this 1st day of June, 1874, of Lieutenant A.E. Smith, 7th Regiment of U.S. Cavalry, A.A.C.S., Sixteen pounds and — ounces of tobacco, in full of the above return; said tobacco to be issued by me to the above-named men, and to be charged against them, respectfully, on the muster and pay rolls of the Company for the months of May and June, 1874.” Signed “Chas A Varnum,” for Lieutenant James Calhoun, also of the 7th Cavalry, Commanding Band. Varnum would suffer a leg wound serving with Major Reno’s battalion at Little Big Horn, while Smith, Calhoun, and Custer all perished in the battle.

Also included are three artifacts from the Battle of Little Bighorn: a 2? diameter copper badge imprinted “USA”; a 3.25? long hollow cylinder which appears to be from a pipe; and a 0.75? diameter brass military eagle button with backmark “Horstmann Philad.” These three artifacts originate from the Harrisburg Collection, and are attributed by the City of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, as being from Custer’s Last Stand. Accompanied by a six-page ALS from Edward S. Luce, a Major in the 7th Cavalry, and later Custer Battlefield Park Superintendent, mentioning an upcoming motion picture. In part: “I never wanted anything so badly—as I do—to get in that picture…I eat—live and breathe—the ‘7th Cavalry and Custer’ and it is my one obsession of life.” Also included are four photos of the graves of Capt. Thomas W. Custer, Lieut. Algernon E. Smith, Lieut. James Calhoun, and Capt. George W. Yates, with a fifth photograph of all four graves in Section A, National Cemetery, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Intersecting folds, one through a single letter of signature, some scattered light toning and dampstaining, and tape reinforcement to reverse of central horizontal fold, otherwise fine condition. A very desirable 7th Cavalry document, combined with three battlefield relics, linking four soldiers to Custer’s famous last battle.